The Orange County Transportation Authority formed in 1991, combining seven smaller agencies in the county to deliver more efficient transportation services and options to residents. The Orange County bus system dates back to 1972, when the Orange County Transit District was first created with just five routes serving the entire county. Today, that’s grown to 77 routes that carry nearly 1 million passengers each week.
The Orange County Transportation Authority, or OCTA as most people know it, is the primary transportation agency for a county that includes 34 cities from the beaches to the foothills and 3.1 million residents.
Most people know OCTA for running the public transportation system, which includes more than 550 buses that transport nearly 1 million passengers every week on 77 bus routes that crisscross the county.
But OCTA is much more than a bus agency. It is overseen by a board of directors with 17 voting members, including all five county supervisors and representatives from cities across the county.
OCTA has an annual budget of $1.1 billion and the agency’s goal is to improve the quality of life for Orange County residents by keeping the county moving. Transportation funding goes toward improving freeways, maintaining streets and roads, synchronizing traffic signals to improve traffic conditions and helping support the Metrolink commuter rail service in the county.
Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements is administered by OCTA. It was originally passed by voters in 1990 and renewed in 2006. It is expected to generate more than $15 billion through 2041. There are three basic components to the measure – 43 percent goes to freeway improvements, 32 percent to fund local street and road improvements and 25 percent goes toward transit improvements.
One of the unique aspects of OCTA is the Measure M environmental program, which intends to offset the impacts of 13 freeway improvement projects. Rather than a piecemeal approach to mitigating the project impacts, OCTA is taking a comprehensive approach that allows for the preservation and protection of large areas of open space with the most sensitive plant and animal life.
So far, OCTA has acquired seven properties from willing sellers, totaling more than 1,300 acres – all to be preserved for generations to come.
About OCTA
by Eric Carpenter
OCTA Media Relations Specialist
Photo by Lands of Void
Photo: unknow credit, photo manipulation by Lands of Void
46 - Ceres Magazine - Winter 2016
Photo by Lands of Void